Brighton & Hove City Council rejects Tory demand for five-fold increase in cycle hangar fees

Brighton & Hove City Council has passed its budget for the coming year, and in so doing  rejected a demand from Tory councillors that the cost of using bike hangars be increased five-fold from £1 to £5 a week.

Conservative councillors had claimed that £125,000 subsidy set aside in the Labour-controlled council’s budget for Falco, the company behind the hangars, to maintain them would be better spent on frontline services and that people allocated spaces within them to park their bikes should pay more.

According to Brighton & Hove News, there are currently more than 110 such hangars in the East Sussex city, although a council consultation in 2021 identified demand for such facilities in around 500 streets there.

Alistair McNair,  who leads the Tory group on the council, said: “We in the Conservative group feel that those using these cycle hangars should cover this cost.

“An increase in the fee to £5 per week would more than cover the cost of maintenance and allow investment in more cycle hangars, if wanted by residents.

“Taxpayers should not have to fund luxuries like cycle hangars for other residents who are then getting a bargain deal for using them.

“It shows a lack of fairness when seen against a backdrop of cuts to services used by the disabled, children, the elderly and the vulnerable,” he added.

But Labour councillor Trevor Muten, chair of the council’s Transport and Sustainability Committee, said that the hangars perform a valuable function and that the cost of using them would not be reviewed.

“As a city with a high number of flats and many people without access to private garden or cycle space, the hangars have been crucial in providing a convenient, safe and affordable space for bikes,” he said.

“Affordability was factored in when the cycle hangar project was introduced and we have no current plans to review the cost paid by residents for hangar spaces.

“We realise that, in some areas of the city, the introduction of any more cycle hangars needs to be balanced with the availability of parking space and this will factor into our parking review process.”

But confirming the £924 million 2024/25 budget yesterday after it was passed without amendment on Thursday evening, the council said that this year was the 15th in succession in which it had seen a real-terms reduction in funding from central government.

The start of that period coincides with the formation  of Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government in the wake of the 2010 General Election, with the Tories subsequently in sole control of Parliament from 2015 onwards.

Bella Sankey, leader of Brighton & Hove City Council, said: “Despite us seeing the largest ever real terms cut in money from central government of £30 million, we’ve still been able to produce a balanced budget,” adding that the council had “been able to invest more than £27 million in key frontline services.”

Despite the strong demand for secure bike parking spaces in Brighton & Hove, the hangars, which provide parking for six bicycles in the space that would be occupied by one car, have met with some local protests, including contractors installing them being “surrounded” by local residents opposed to them.

> Residents “threatened with police” after “surrounding” contractors installing bike hangar